Thurday, November 20, Day 3

I reached Savannah at about 8:30 in the evening.  I stayed at the Oglethorpe Inn,  about 15 minutes from historic downtown Savannah.

This is the best under $75 hotel room, I have ever had.  It was like a mini suite.  with a sitting room, a half wall, and a bed room.  The building is older with all the rooms in a large rectangle, and a large enclosed atrium in the centre.

None of my pictures worked out, but I found Oglethorpe Inn on Tripadvisor, lots of great pictures there.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g60814-d224997-Reviews-Oglethorpe_Inn_Suites-Savannah_Georgia.html

I decided to start my day in Savannah, as I did in Charleston.  I took a tour.

Old Savannah Tours has a nice little 90 minute tour, that gives you an overview of the historic centre of town. As an added bonus, they have a cast of actors, in full historical costume, that jump on trolley, and add a little extra information for the next house, or area.  There are a about a dozen actors, and you usually get 3 of them on a tour.  Lots of fun.  I did a bit of touring on my own, had lunch, and then had to decide if I wanted to spend another night in Savannah.  I was about 6 hours away from Briny Breezes, Florida.  

An elderly lady, recommended that I should be sure to stop at Fort King George, and have supper at Mudcat Charlies.  So I did.

Fort King George is the first fort built in Georgia. It was built in 1721, and abandoned by 1730.  Not a very important fort, but it served it's purpose. This was the time when France, Britain, and Spain, where all establishing colonies in the south.  Spain had Florida, and was moving north, France was expanding, and Britain wanted to hold the river mouth.  

By 1730, General Oglethorpe had established Savannah, and Fort King George was not required.  

While not a big fort, local historians have done a great job, recreating it.

It's sort of like a mini Fort George, (the one in NOTL)
A lot of attention was put into using the building techniques.  Most of supports where peg and tenon.   They  only used nails and screws for the walkways, and a few of the decorative bits.

They had also recreated a daub and wattle house from that same period.  It's pretty neat.  You just place small upright sticks for the walls.  Then weave cane, or small branches horizontally through the sticks.  That's the wattle part.  For the daub you mix some clay and spanish moss, and plaster the woven sticks.

The fort closed at 5, and I headed off for supper.  On the way I kept seeing these bottle trees.

 I'm not sure what they were all about.

Mud Cat Charlies is at a 2-way fishing port.  If you go one way, it's fresh water, go the other, and it's salt water fishing.

It was too surprising to find a lot of seafood on the menu.  There is a nice dock/patio.

I met the owner.  His name is not Charlie.  I asked for a recommendation, and he made a really nice sampler of local fried oysters, and shrimp, with some pieces of fish, that had been caught earlier that day.  It was delicious, but not very fancy.  Disposable plates, and a plastic glass for my beer.  It sort of added to the charm.  

Back on the road by 6:30 pm, and I pulled into Briny Breezes by 11:30 Thursday night.  

This has been a shorter trip than I planned.  I just wanted to get south this year.

Next post will have to be some photos from Briny Breezes.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - Day 2 - Mostly driving.

I settled my breakfast bloated body into the car, and headed for Asheville, North Carolina.

https://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Asheville,+NC,+USA&ftid=0x88598ca93c0f6f09:0x94ef31c106343a5d

Asheville was another of last years locations I never got to.  It was just the right distance, to make it a lunch stop. The beautiful drive through The Great Smoky Mountains, makes it worth going Asheville on it's own.  I was thinking of having lunch at the Biltmore Mansion.  Then I discovered it was going to cost $60, just to enter the property.  It actually looks like it would be worth the money, if I was going to spend the entire day touring the property.

http://www.biltmore.com/

I settled for a great little restaurant in Biltmore Village.

Biltmore Village, is like Yorkville could have been.  Neat little bistro's and restaurants.  Lots of art gallery's, and crafty stores.  Asheville is a beautiful city, and I plan on touring it properly another time.  Biltmore Village, just sort of condenses the nice stuff of Asheville into a small area.  I had one of the best Reuben Sandwiches ever at the Corner Kitchen, with a potato salad, that had chunks of feta cheese in it.  I have to remember that for next time I make potato salad.

They also served local craft beers.  I had a White Zombie Ale, which is Belgium style wheat beer.  Very crisp and refreshing, perfect with a Reuben, and potato salad.

Another 5 hours in the car to get to Savannah, Georgia.  I have decided to skip Charleston this trip.  I am going to spend the day touring Savannah, and then it's a 6 hour drive to Briny Breezes, Florida.

Back to Florida - November 2014 - Day 1 - A False Start

 Tuesday November 17, 2014

I slept in.  The morning I am heading off to Florida, and I slept until almost 7AM.  By 07:30, I had everything in the car, and I was off. I had heard there was some snow last night, and more was expected.  So I wanted to get away from the lake as quick as possible.  If it got too bad, I would forget about driving through Erie, PA, and just head east for a while to get out of the snow belt.

It was a beautiful day to start my trip.  The sun was shining, the sky had that crisp blue colour it gets when it is really cold.

I got across the Queenston/Lewiston bridge with no trouble at all.  Then I was bombing down the 190 until I saw the 'Road Closed at next exit' sign.  I was directed onto the 290, then that highway closed, and I was driving through the snowy streets of Buffalo.

The further in I got the deeper the snow got.  Police were at the intersections, directing traffic in the one, and only one direction, we could go.  At one point I was directed in a full circle from one intersection to another, so I pulled up to a police cruiser.

I asked the officer for advice on how to get to Florida.  Should I go south, or east, and how do I get out of the city.

His answer, "Thursday" .  He was wrong,  because Buffalo is scheduled to get hit again on Wednesday night.  He recommended I continue down Clinton, and cross at the Peace Bridge.  Three blocks after I drove away from the policeman, the streets were clear. Buffalo gets some damn weird snow.

As I was crossing the Peace Bridge I looked north, at the bright clear sky.  I then looked south, at the huge bank of dark clouds.  The clouds had a very clearly defined front edge.  Dark, and thick south, bright and blue north.  Very weird.  Going south of the lake was not an option.

I stopped at a Tim Horton's, to decide what to do.  I could just go home, and wait for the storm to blow over.  On the other hand.  The car was packed, I was ready, and doing a quick weather check, north of the lake was clear with no bad weather forecast. It was 11AM.  I could be in Windsor before 4PM, and driving south for a good chunk of the day still.  I have always been more of a journey over destination person. This just added to the journey.

I crossed the Windsor/Detroit bridge at 3PM.  By 6PM I was enjoying a delicious chicken dinner at Bob Evan's Restaurant, in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

http://goo.gl/maps/Q3Y4D

I looked at my maps, and decided to continue to London, Kentucky.  I had stopped here last year, and gotten a nice room, in a family hotel, for under $50.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g39598-d266286-Reviews-Budget_Host_Westgate_Inn-London_Kentucky.html

I recommend it highly.  It took 16 hours of driving, but I was now about one third of the way to Florida. 

There was a Cracker Barrel restaurant just up the hill from the hotel, so that's where I went for breakfast.

Cracker Barrel is hybrid store/restaurant chain.  There are rocking chairs, and other pieces of furniture, for sale on the big front veranda.

Inside there is a big country market style store you have to walk through to get to the restaurant.

 

The restaurant has a big fireplace, with logs burning in it.  It is decorated in a cottage, old thyme country store, style.  

I could have just ordered bacon and eggs, but getting the combo, was actually cheaper.

This is the smallest combo I could get.  Grits, biscuits & gravy, eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, hash browns, a cinnamon biscuit, warm fruit in a honey syrup, and tea.  All this for $7.99.  I think it was cheaper, but I asked for a new teabag when she came back with hot water, so that boosted the price.

Lunch was going to be lighter.

Day 7 of my road trip home

My children reminded me, that I haven't posted the final day of my road trip.

My last post summarized the first six days of my trek home. 

The morning of January 20th I headed off for the Columbus Zoo.

I like zoo's.  I even like how they smell in the summer. But a zoo in the winter is even better.  No crowds, and the animals seem to be more awake.

If you're of my age, you probably remember Jack Hanah bringing crazy animals to Johnny Carson.  The animal would inevitably poop, pee, or bite Carson.  Jack Hanah was the director of the Columbus zoo.  Under his leadership the Columbus zoo has become one of the best zoo's in North America.

It's very well set up, and has an interesting collection of animals.

This little arctic fox is beautiful.  A perfect white coat, button black nose, and eyes.  It looked more like a stuffed toy. 

 The cougar was stately and elegant. It was a joy just watching it walk around.

 The koala as always looking cute, cool, and slightly stoned.

 I actually did see some manatee's in Florida, but from the surface they're just a mass in the water.

 The highpoint for me was the wolverine.  For years I would take my kids to the Toronto Zoo.  We'd always stop at the empty looking wolverine cage.  If we were lucky we'd see a bit of fur in a hollow log. This guy at the Columbus zoo, was just going nuts.  Romping through the snow.  Marking anything that hadn't been marked in the last 10 minutes.

 

I must have taken about 20 shots.  A small crowd was gathering because this is the first time most of the other people had seen the wolverine active.

  

Finally he stopped for a photo op, a small ovation from the crowd, and then he was back to romping around.  

  

As I was leaving the zoo, I saw the first sign that I was almost home.  Look carefully at the decal on the doors.

 

 Lessons learned on this road trip:

Never pass up a chance to fill your gas tank, and empty your bladder.

Always take a break after about 4 hours of driving. Otherwise I end up walking around like a crippled zombie for 20 minutes. 

Never get so focused on your destination that you miss the neat stuff on the way.  This isn't actually a problem for me.  My problem is I'll be driving and then, "OOOH, that looks shiny", and I end up taking a 3 hour detour.

Your GPS is your friend.  It was handy even when I didn't have a destination plugged in.  It would show me the next exit or street coming up.  On the highway it would usually show me when there was a traffic problem or construction ahead.

Try to find a hotel just after lunch.  On the way down in November I usually started looking for a hotel around 8PM.  That usually meant I missed the night life at my destination.  I'm definitely stopping in Charleston again next year.  Because I loved Charleston, and because I only got to check out 1 music venue.

Which reminds me I should try organizing the  pictures of my trip down in November, and adding them to this blog.

But not tonight.

2 months of sun, surf, & sand, and then a week long road trip home.

Goodbye Florida
Goodbye Briny Breezes Beach house

Goodbye ocean sunrises

Goodbye Jake and Elwood

I've been here for 2 months. It's time to leave and head back to the frozen lands I belong in.  I did a quick check of the weather on Tuesday morning and promptly headed south.  

To Fort Lauderdale, to the Bahai Mar Marina. They have a literary landmark for the boat slip of the 'Busted Flush'.  Travis McGee's houseboat.

The boat was fictional, but the boat slip did exist until they extended the parking lot.  They now keep the plaque in the Dockmaster's office.

From Fort Lauderdale I went west to St Petersburg, to visit the truly excellent Salvador Dali Museum. This is one of the neatest art galleries I've ever gone too.  Even the park benches are neat.

The gallery itself is beautiful, and the collection of Dali paintings is fabulous.  The gift shop alone, is worth the trip.  I managed to limit myself to a small selection of gifts.

I spent a great night at America's Best Inn in St Petersburg

A lovely historic inn downtown.  Then I actually did drive north.

To Memphis.  

I made the obligatory stop at Graceland.  The mansion is perfectly maintained, with many displays and exhibits, on the surrounding property.  There are also many gift shops.

You too can own a 'Burning Love' jump suit, (just like Elvis wore) for only $3050.00.

I really was quite impressed with breadth of the displays, and the curatorship.  Someday this may become a fitting memorial.  But.  Right now it felt more like I was looting a corpse, than celebrating a life.

My day belonged to Graceland but my night belonged to Beale Street

A street devoted to great music venues:

Silky O'Sullivans where a funny looking woman with horrible mic technique, belted out some amazing blues

Then over to Flyns, where a solo man with guitar and looper paid homage to R&B

The Jerry Lee Lewis bar, with a Jerry Lee Lewis tribute band.

At BB Kings, the BB King All Stars rocked the night away.

My favorite was the Blues Hall Juke Joint.  A small venue, with the best band on the street that night

If you look closely at the picture below, the sign above the window on the left says, 'BEERS TO GO'

You can stand at the window, order a beer, and then enjoy the beer while watching the band from the street.  No crowding required.  

A nights sleep in Memphis and then it was on to Nashville.   My first stop was The Grand Ole Opry in the original Ryman Auditorium

Then another great night of great music venues.

  The Orchid Lounge, Layla's, Legends, The Stage, The Wildhorse Saloon.

My favorite was a hole in the wall called The Wheel.

I walked in, saw a trio that included an upright bass.  That's a good thing. They finished their song, and the leader announced, 'We don't play the new shit, just the old shit', and launched into a Hank Williams standard at triple the normal speed.  The group was called, 'The Eskimo Brothers', and they had a great time playing music.  You got the feeling they would have done the same show without an audience, but they loved that we loved them.  It was a synergy thing.

I had 2 more stops to make in Nashville.  First to the Parthenon

Back in 1897, the good citizens of Nashville, decided that the best way to celebrate their centennial was to build a life sized replica of the Parthenon, with all the busted bits fixed.  They even took direct casts of the Elgin collection in London to replace the sculptures.  They built the whole thing out of wood and plaster.  After a couple years it started to look shoddy, but the people of Nashville so loved having their very own Parthenon, they rebuilt it, in a more enduring fashion.  The center now contains an art gallery, and a 42 foot statue of the goddess Athena, just like the original Parthenon used to have.  This is what happens when you educate cowboys.  It's wonderful.

My next stop was to President Andrew Jackson's plantation.  The Hermitage.  The mansion is very nicely preserved and maintained. Most of the rooms still contain pieces of original furniture, and even some the original wallpaper.  They even kept one of the slave cabins, with several active archeological digs happening on the property.  Next time I come south I will have to tour some of the even better preserved plantations outside of Charleston and Savannah.

Last night I slept in Corbin, Kentucky.  I wanted to stop in Corbin to visit the Harland Sanders Café and Museum

This is where KFC was invented.  I picked up a nice box lunch of fried chicken, and then back in the car to Columbus, Ohio.

In the morning I'll visit one of the finest zoos in North America, and then it's a 5 hour drive back to Niagara.

See y'all soon.